


Tension Attention, Please

by orphan_account



Series: Gatos Bailando [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cats, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 17:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4633743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageyama applies for a part-time job at the local cat cafe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tension Attention, Please

Kageyama Tobio doesn’t know _what_ drives him to apply for a job at the cat cafe in the first place.

He’s not dumb, contrary to what people tell him. He’s seen the signs all his life. Birds flying away as he tiptoes over, a large cat by the vending machine becoming nothing more than a memory of the tail whisking away. 

“So tell me,” the burly man interviewing him says, “what makes you think you’ve got what it takes to work here?”

There’s a challenge in the man’s voice and Kageyama has half a mind to fight. He feels all the tendons in his body flex at the same time. That all dissipates when he sees the quirk in the interviewer’s lips. He had a senpai in middle school who liked doing things like that, riling people up. 

The man is shorter than him like most people are, and wearing a frilly apron, but his piercing gaze effectively humbles Kageyama.

“I like cats.”

The interviewer continues staring, apparently unimpressed.

Kageyama furrows his brow even further, racking his brain for the few encounters he’s had with cats that don’t involve them walking away. “A cat headbutted my knee once.”

The man angles his head up a bit, gaze boring deeper into Kageyama. “How big was this cat?”

“The cat stood up!” Kageyama blurts out. 

The interviewer still doesn’t look convinced.

Kageyama looks down, “and I was kinda… shorter… and younger.”

A black cat with a red bow leaps onto the counter next to them and Kageyama pauses. He reaches out.

“Wait!”

A barista with silvery blond hair rushes out with a spray bottle. “Hold your hands out please!” 

Kageyama holds out his hands and the barista’s panicked expression dissolves into a sheepish grin. “Sorry. Just a precaution you know?”

Quietly Kageyama takes in the barista spraying disinfectant on his hands. His gaze flickers over the the beauty mark under his eye.

The interviewer clears his throat. “Suga-” 

“Would you like something? Here’s the menu,” he gives Kageyama a board adorned with crocheted paw prints. Kageyama accepts it with one hand, other hand slowly extending to the black cat with the red bow.

The interviewer heaves a sigh. “Sugawara this is the applicant, Kageyama. We’re in the middle of his interview.”

“So tall!” Sugawara, the barista, gasps. He coughs and adjusts his black apron. “In that case I have some questions too.” 

Kageyama exchanges a glance with the interviewer, who nods at him. Kageyama then directs his attention to Sugawara.

“Do you have a favourite?”

Kageyama pauses, hand still outstretched and so close but so far from his red-ribboned maybe friend. That would be the obvious contender.

“I don’t know,” he responds. Sugawara laughs and it makes Kageyama hunch his shoulders forward. It’s not fun when he isn’t in on a joke. He thinks back to how he tried all the curries before deciding pork was the best, and how he tried all the sports before deciding volleyball was the best. He would have to try all the cats before deciding on a favourite.

“It isn’t that one?” Sugawara asks, pointing to the cat close to Kageyama’s hand. At this rate he isn’t sure if the cat and him even exist on the same plane with how the black cat is barely hanging out of his reach.

Kageyama’s eyes droop a bit, forlorn glance lingering on the cat. “We don’t really know each other yet.”

“Would you like to?”

Right then a tall spectacled boy makes his presence known with a clearing of his throat. “One of your cats...” he falters then looks at the front of the counter.

Kageyama follows his gaze and sees a bunch of laminated cards neatly arranged in two rows. A profile for every cat, Kageyama probably should have actually visited the cafe before applying for a job here. 

“Uh, Nekomata-san,” the lanky boy continues. “He ran out the door when someone was coming in.”

“Oh no…” Sugawara’s brow crinkles. “Daichi!”

“I’m on it!”

The man previously interviewing Kageyama rushes out the door. Sugawara takes Kageyama’s arm and sits down next to the cards then plops down on the floor next to him. He points to one of the cards with a picture of the cat that keeps orbiting Kageyama. “This is Kuroneko-san.”

Kuroneko-san, according his profile, will readily come over when his name is called.

“Kuroneko-san.” Kageyama calls out quietly. The cat looks up but seems to be staring through him.

“Kuuuuroneko-san!” Sugawara calls out in a voice so sweet Kageyama feels his own heart flutter a bit. Of course when Sugawara summons the cat he’ll jump to him, Kageyama doesn’t blame him.

Sugawara then leans in close Kagayama’s heart leaps to his throat. He tries to struggle away.

“Stay still!” Sugawara hisses, elbowing him and then quickly directs his attention to Kuroneko-san. “Go! Go to Kageyama!” He pushes at the cat’s back, trying to urge him on.

Kageyama is acutely aware of Sugawara constantly nudging close to his side and he can hear the sweat beading on the back of his neck. “Sugawara-san…” 

His head goes blank, he doesn’t know what he’ll do if Sugawara moves closer or further away. From here he can see Sugawara’s silvery eyelashes, his prominent beauty mark on his high cheekbone, the warmth of his being seeping into his side.

The nudging at his side abruptly stops, bringing Kageyama back to the present. Hopefully he has not done something weird. Again.

Sugawara smiles widely at him and nudges him once more, bringing Kageyama’s attention to Kuroneko-san on his lap.

“How…” Kageyama stutters out upon seeing the impossible. Kuroneko-san seems perfectly complacent, curled up in his lap. Kageyama’s mouth wibbles a bit.

“See? He likes you.” Sugawara leans on Kageyama’s shoulder to pet the cat on his lap. 

A brief thought comes to Kageyama’s mind. He really likes this. 

What exactly “this” is isn’t clear. Kageyama likes volleyball because it makes him feel alive in a rowdy way. This makes him feel alive in a soft way? It’s like a mini sun has been deposited in his chest, the resulting warmth radiating through him. He never wants to move from here.

Kuroneko-san stretches out, pitching his magnificent cat self so that he completely occupies both Sugawara and Kageyama’s laps.

“I guess we’re stuck here huh?” Sugawara laughs. “I think he’s sleepy. Might as well get comfortable.” With his classic ghibli grin Sugawara scooches around a bit, settling for leaning on Kageyama’s shoulder.

Kageyama nods jerkily. Now it’s like the mini sun has heated up too much. Kuroneko-san is warm on his lap while Sugawara is a veritable furnace on his shoulder. It doesn’t help that he can feel the tips of his ears pulse with heat either.

But he doesn’t dare budge an inch.

Not when he sees the slow rise and fall of Kuroneko-san’s belly when he snores; Doubly so seeing the serene smile on Sugawara’s face as he strokes Kuroneko-san.

The jingling of the front door announces Daichi’s return. His once pristine pink apron is scuffed all over the front and Kageyama spots a scrape on one of Daichi’s elbows. Kageyama suspects quite the adventure has happened. Daichi sports one cat each shoulder in addition to the smugly purring Nekomata-san in his arms.

His posse of cats multiplies immediately before he can make it any further than the entrance. Nearly every other cat in the establishment save for Kuroneko-san rushes to Daichi.

“Several of them got out,” he gasps out in between breaths. The clowder of cats meowing around him only seems to further his dismay. “This is really out of hand. Help.” 

Sugawara can only grin sheepishly and gesture to Kuroneko-san.

Daichi stares at Kageyama and Sugawara huddled together next to the counter and points to Kageyama. “What’s his problem?”

Sugawara glances up at Kageyama to see him glaring at Daichi and the crowd of cats. He clicks his tongue and flicks the space between Kageyama’s eyes. “Stop that.” 

Kageyama rubs hurt area, scowl softening just a bit.

“Daichi has known these cats for a very long time. If you spend a lot of time with them I think they’ll like you a lot too.” Sugawara turns to Daichi, “Kuroneko-san likes him and I like him. I think he should work here.”

Daichi sets the three cats down and wipes his brow. “Well he is doing extraordinarily well considering his lack of experience.”

Sugawara beams and Kageyama has to avert his eyes immediately. Looking at Sugawara’s smile is like looking into the sun. 

“Seems to be much calmer than the rumours make him out to be as well.”

Rumours? Kageyama freezes, staring at Daichi. Has he seen him somewhere before?

“Sawamura Daichi. I’m a third year at Karasuno High.” He bends down and extends his hand which Kageyama accepts shakily. 

“Come in tomorrow after school. We’ll see how it goes from there.” Daichi straightens up, “I think we can get some forms out of the way today though. Come over and-”

“Ahem.”

Sugawara insistently points at the sleeping cat.

“Oh. Uh, when you’re free then.”

Kageyama is losing feeling in his toes and his fingers are trembling. “Will he wake up soon?”

“Nope.” Sugawara says cheerfully.

Kageyama sits back evaluating the decisions he’s made today. He tells himself he'll have an opinion formed by the time Kuroneko-san wakes up. He won't have an opinion formed by the time Kuroneko-san wakes up.


End file.
